176 LETTERS FS OM EG YPT, lodging in Cairo, and here I shall live for a trifle in comfort and save the expense of boat hire; moreover, the complete quiet would suit me better than travelling. My dear old captain of steamer No. 12 will bring me up coffee and candles, and if I " sap," and learn to talk to the people, I shall have plenty of company. The cattle disease has not extended above Minyeh to any great degree, and here there has not been a case Food is very good here, at rather less than half Cairo prices even now; in summer it will be half that. Mustafa urges me to stay, and proposes picnics of a few days over in the tombs, with his hareem, as a di- version. I send you a photograph of my two be- loved lonely palm-trees on the river-bank just above Philee. I send you also the seal and names of Abraham and all the family buried in the tomb of Machpelah. It is, of course, a "hegab" (talisman).